[Psychosocial adjustment of paraplegics]

The present article is concerned with the description and discussion of the results from an investigation on 34 paraspastic of paraplegic male patients. Data on the quality and intensity of functional impairment of the bladder and the intestine and on disorders with regard to the sexual sphere as well as on their psychosocial compensation were obtained in a semi-structured interview of up to four hours duration. Subsequently the data were evaluated with the aid of descriptive statistics. Predominant were two modes of coping with the handicap: Young paraplegics and paraspastics suffering from a traumatic lesion overcame their functional deficits by means of instrumental compensation and almost all of them--after passing through a course of institutionally prescribed developmental steps--achieved a readjustment both with regard to their relationship with the opposite sex and to their professional career. Older handicapped whose lesions were caused by disease persisted in resignation or hypochondriac concentration upon their state of health and were socially isolated.